Changes in Iraqi Hanukkah lamps occurred several times during the twentieth century, in tandem with changes in political rule. Around the 1920s, during the period of British government, a European-style menorah-form lamp was introduced, probably by the influx of British personnel and other Europeans. With Iraqi independence in 1932, a completely new type of lamp became popular in Iraq, a standing lamp with arms placed in a circle around the shaft. This form may have evolved from the menorah-shaped lamp introduced a decade earlier, but the reason for its popularity is unclear. Moreover, a lamp with lights in the round can, according to many rabbinical authorities, negate the efficacy of the ritual. Most Jewish communities, including those in Iraq, developed Hanukkah lamps with lights in a straight line in order to avoid this problem. Many rabbis in Iraq did in fact have difficulties with the form of this new round lamp, but the chief rabbi Yosef Hayyim ruled that it was acceptable as long as there was enough space between the individual lights so that they did not resemble a single flame.
The donor of this lamp is an Iraqi Jew from Baghdad who emigrated to the United States.